Friday, February 1, 2013

This is the second block completed for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013. I am very happy with some parts and critical of others. In the end, I decided to stop being so critical, as this is a learning process and I am gaining experience.

Block 2 prior to embellishments

When I put the block together, I pictured the brick wall of a garden and grassy hills leading off into the distance. After seeing the picture I posted of the block on my blog, I almost redid the top left corner. I did not like the hill touching the sun. In the end, I decided to leave it.

Flower Wall

I began by adding tulips and a vine of roses along the brick wall. Later, I added the little butterfly. As a novice at silk ribbon embroidery, I found my copy of The Silk Ribbon Embroidery Bible by Joan Gordon to be an invaluable resource. (I found a used copy at Powell's for $19.95 during a trip we made to Portland, Oregon last fall.)

Flower Garden

Next, I added a buttonhole stitch along the seam between the garden and the grassy hill. Then, I referred to my copy of Diana Lampe's, Embroidery for all Seasons (yet again!) and added Shasta Daisies, Cottage Pinks, English Primroses and Forget-Me-Nots.

Fence and Cherry Tree

The fence seam was my next addition. I used a thicker (5 or 8) cotton floss to stitch a buttonhole seam. Then I made individual stitches over each of the "posts" to create the fence.

For the cherry blossom tree, I made the trunk using another Edmar Boucle floss in a variegated brown and the tutorial for Easy, Breezy Trees found on the Shaw K L Designs Blog. The cherry blossoms were created using three strands of a pink variegated floss and lots and lots of French knots. (I began by adding "blossoms" around each branch and then continued adding them until I thought my husband would stop telling me the trunk was too big for the tree - lol!) A few green straight stitches of "grass" at the base of the trunk completed the tree.

Distant Tree and Dandelion Hillside

I find myself being the most critical of this final section. I added a stem stitch in a size 5 or size 8 yellow cotton floss along the seam of the sun. Then, I added a small tree to hide the section where the hill touched the sun. A variegated brown floss was used to make chain stitches for the trunk and branches. And lazy daisy stitches made with an Edmar variegated green floss created the leaves. Tiny colonial knots made with a variegated yellow floss created daisies on the grassy hill. Along the seam, and behind the tree, smaller French knots were made with the same floss, to give the illusion of distance. Light green back stitches were added at the base of the tree. I wanted the tree to be small, to add to the illusion of distance. However, I fear it may be too small. And, I was not as happy with the actual dandelions as I was with the ones I imagined. I did like the way they added a bit more texture to the block.

I toyed with the idea of adding birds to the sky, but I really liked the simplicity of the block as it was, with my eye drawn to the rose vine along the garden wall.